# Susan Lipper

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{{Short description|American photographer}}
'''Susan Lipper''' (born 1953) is an American photographer, based in New York City.<ref name="met">{{cite web|access-date=2023-04-11|title=Search the Collection|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search|website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art}}</ref><ref name="benge">"[http://harveybenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/photographers-whose-work-i-like-no31.html Photographers whose work I like - No31/ Susan Lipper]". [Harvey Benge](/source/Harvey_Benge), 28 June 2016. Accessed 26 March 2018.</ref> Her books include the trilogy ''Grapevine'' (1994), ''Trip'' (2000) and ''Domesticated Land'' (2018).<ref name="badger">{{cite book | title = The Pleasures of Good Photographs | author = Gerry Badger | chapter = Far from New York City: The Grapevine Work of Susan Lipper | chapter-url = http://www.susanlipper.com/text_gv_badger_1.html | author-link = Gerry Badger | year =  2010| publisher = [Aperture Foundation](/source/Aperture_Foundation) | isbn = 978-1-59711-139-3 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/pleasuresofgoodp0000badg/page/166 166–178] | url = https://archive.org/details/pleasuresofgoodp0000badg/page/166 }}</ref> Lipper has said that all of her work is "subjective documentary".<ref name="ohagan-guardian">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/oct/13/susan-lipper-grapevine-series-south|date=13 October 2010|accessdate=25 March 2018|author-link=Sean O'Hagan (journalist)|first=Sean|last=O'Hagan|work=[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)|title=Interview: 'The mystery is enough': Susan Lipper on the Grapevine series}}</ref>

''Grapevine'' was shown in solo exhibitions at [The Photographers' Gallery](/source/The_Photographers'_Gallery) in London and [Arnolfini](/source/Arnolfini%2C_Bristol) in Bristol, UK in 1994.<ref name="thephotographersgallery">{{Cite web| title=Exhibition History 1971 – present | url=https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/Prog_Exhibition_List_1971%20to%202023.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230401212502/https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/Prog_Exhibition_List_1971%20to%202023.pdf | archive-date=2023-04-01}}</ref> She received a [Guggenheim Fellowship](/source/Guggenheim_Fellowship) in 2015.<ref name="guggenheim-fellowship">{{cite web|url = https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/susan-lipper/ | accessdate = 25 March 2018 | publisher = [John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation](/source/John_Simon_Guggenheim_Memorial_Foundation) | title = Susan Lipper}}</ref> Her work is held in the collections of the [Metropolitan Museum of Art](/source/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art)<ref name="met" /> and [New York Public Library](/source/New_York_Public_Library) in New York City,<ref name="nypl">"[https://www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/Photographers_in_The_New_York_Public_Library_April_16_2010.pdf Photographers in The New York Public Library's Photography Collection]". [New York Public Library](/source/New_York_Public_Library). Accessed 26 March 2018.</ref> [Minneapolis Institute of Art](/source/Minneapolis_Institute_of_Art),<ref name="artsmia">{{cite web|access-date=2021-08-30|title=artist:"Susan Lipper"|url=https://collections.artsmia.org/search/artist:%2522Susan%2520Lipper%2522|website=Minneapolis Institute of Art}}</ref> [Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles](/source/Museum_of_Contemporary_Art%2C_Los_Angeles),<ref name="moca">{{cite web|access-date=2023-04-11|title=Susan Lipper|url=https://www.moca.org/artist/susan-lipper|website=www.moca.org}}</ref> [Museum of Fine Arts, Houston](/source/Museum_of_Fine_Arts%2C_Houston),<ref name="mfah">{{Cite web |title=Susan Lipper|url=https://emuseum.mfah.org/people/10006/susan-lipper/objects |access-date=2024-10-07 |website=Museum of Fine Arts, Houston}}</ref> and the [National Portrait Gallery](/source/National_Portrait_Gallery%2C_London) and [Victoria and Albert Museum](/source/Victoria_and_Albert_Museum) in London.<ref name="vam">{{cite web|access-date=2021-08-30|title=Search Results|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?q=Lipper%252c%2520Susan|website=Victoria and Albert Museum}}</ref><ref name="npg">"[https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp67784/susan-lipper Susan Lipper (1953-), Photographer]". [National Portrait Gallery, London](/source/National_Portrait_Gallery%2C_London). Accessed 25 March 2018.</ref>

==Early life and education==
Lipper was born and raised in New York City. She studied English [Romantic poetry](/source/Romantic_poetry) in college with a concentration on [W. B. Yeats](/source/W._B._Yeats). She received an [MFA](/source/Master_of_Fine_Arts) in photography from [Yale School of Art](/source/Yale_School_of_Art) in 1983.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2023-04-10|title=Susan Lipper|url=https://www.susanlipper.com/about.html|website=www.susanlipper.com}}</ref>

==Life and work==
Lipper uses a [medium format](/source/medium_format) camera, sometimes with attached flash.<ref>Susan Harris-Edwards, "[http://susanlipper.com/text_gv_edwards.html Grapevine: Photographs by Susan Lipper]". History of Photography, Vol. 19, no. 2 (1995) 180–81. Accessed 26 March 2018.</ref><ref>Susan Lipper, "[https://vimeo.com/70585392 ICP Lecture Series 2010: Susan Lipper Grapevine: Photographs by Susan Lipper]". [International Center of Photography](/source/International_Center_of_Photography). Accessed 26 March 2018.</ref>

Her first book, ''Innocence & the Birth of Jealousy'' (1974), combines photography and poetry. According to David Solo writing in ''The PhotoBook Review'', the book "offers a single, tightly integrated meditation on narcissism and its effects on relationships." Lipper appears in a set of dance-like poses, photographed by [Penny Slinger](/source/Penny_Slinger), while Lipper was studying English literature in London. "When Lipper reviewed the contact sheets, the idea of the sequence/story emerged, and she wrote the accompanying narrative poem". The book was published by [Martin Booth](/source/Martin_Booth) under his Omphalos imprint.<ref name="tpr">{{cite journal |last1= Solo |first1= David|date= |title= Innocence & the Birth of Jealousy: David Solo on Susan Lipper|url= https://aperture.org/tag/the-photobook-review-016/ |journal= The PhotoBook Review |volume= |issue= 16 |pages=13 |doi=|publisher=[Aperture](/source/Aperture_(magazine))}}</ref>

After returning to the United States, Lipper developed her more recognized style, as seen in the book trilogy ''Grapevine'' (1994), ''Trip'' (2004), and ''Domesticated Land'' (2018).<ref name="tpr"/>

For about 20 years she has been visiting and photographing a tiny community in Grapevine Hollow in the [Appalachian Mountains](/source/Appalachian_Mountains) in [West Virginia](/source/West_Virginia), eastern United States.<ref name="ohagan-guardian"/><ref name="hilton-independent">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/exhibitions-if-you-go-down-to-the-woods-today-susan-lippers-sympathetic-photographs-show-a-society-1392393.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/exhibitions-if-you-go-down-to-the-woods-today-susan-lippers-sympathetic-photographs-show-a-society-1392393.html |archive-date=2022-05-25 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|date= 6 February 1994 |accessdate= 25 March 2018|first=Tim|last=Hilton|work=[The Independent](/source/The_Independent)|title=Exhibitions / If you go down to the woods today: Susan Lipper's sympathetic photographs show a society in decline. Candida Hofer's go even further, taking the people out altogether}}</ref> The photographs she made there between 1988 and 1994, in collaboration with her subjects the residents, became ''Grapevine''.<ref name="ohagan-guardian" /><ref name="badger" /> The critic [Gerry Badger](/source/Gerry_Badger) has written that "Community, family, and gender relationships seem to be at the core of her investigation."<ref name="badger" /> Lipper's collaborative approach distinguishes ''Grapevine'' from [social documentary photography](/source/social_documentary_photography);<ref name="badger" /> she describes it as "subjective documentary" and that "we were creating fictional images together [.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.] they knew the narratives I was playing around with as well as I did."<ref name="ohagan-guardian" /> Izabela Radwanska Zhang wrote in the ''[British Journal of Photography](/source/British_Journal_of_Photography)'' that it "challenges our belief in images labelled 'photojournalism', by interweaving a theatrical element. Lipper asked her models to assume characters that could essentially be them in the images; the result is a slippery, mysterious work."<ref name="bjp">{{cite web|accessdate=2021-04-19|title=Festival: Krakow Photomonth|url=https://www.1854.photography/2017/05/festival-krakow-photomonth/|website=British Journal of Photography}}</ref> [Parr](/source/Martin_Parr) and Badger include ''Grapevine'' in the third volume of ''The Photobook: A History''.<ref>{{cite book | last1= Parr|first1= Martin | last2=Badger|first2= Gerry | title= The Photobook: A History Volume III  | year= 2014 | location= London | publisher= Phaidon | isbn= 9780714866772 | page=229}}</ref>

''Trip,'' made between 1993 and 1999, paired [road trip](/source/road_trip) photographs of urban landscapes and interiors with writing by [Frederick Barthelme](/source/Frederick_Barthelme).<ref name="badger" /><ref name="mack-dl">{{cite book|title=Domesticated Land by Susan Lipper|url=http://www.mackbooks.co.uk/books/1219-Domesticated-Land.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|access-date=2023-04-10|title=Susan Lipper|url=https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/art/susan-lipper-2|magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref> ''Domesticated Land'' was made between 2012 and 2016 in the [California desert](/source/Deserts_of_California).<ref name="benge" /><ref name="mack-dl" />

==Publications==
===Books of work by Lipper===
*''Innocence & the Birth of Jealousy''. Rushden, UK: [Omphalos](/source/Martin_Booth), 1974.<ref name="tpr"/>
*''Grapevine: Photographs by Susan Lipper''. Manchester, UK: [Cornerhouse](/source/Cornerhouse), 1994. {{ISBN|0-948797-13-4}}.
**New York: [powerHouse](/source/powerHouse_Books), 1997. {{ISBN|1576870235}}.
*''Trip''. Photographs by Lipper with accompanying short texts by [Frederick Barthelme](/source/Frederick_Barthelme). With an afterword by [Matthew Drutt](/source/Matthew_Drutt).
**Stockport, UK: [Dewi Lewis](/source/Dewi_Lewis), 2000. {{ISBN|1-899235-52-3}}.
**Brooklyn, New York: powerHouse, 2000. {{ISBN|1576870510}}.
*''Bed and Breakfast''. Country life 4. Maidstone, UK: [Photoworks](/source/Photoworks), 2000. {{ISBN|9780951742730}}. Edited by [Val Williams](/source/Val_Williams). With an essay by David Chandler. Edition of 1000 copies.
*''Domesticated Land''. London: [Mack](/source/Mack_(publishing)), 2018. {{ISBN|9781912339037}}.

===Books with contributions by Lipper===
*''Who's Looking at the Family?''. Manchester, UK: [Cornerhouse](/source/Cornerhouse), 1994. Edited by [Val Williams](/source/Val_Williams). {{ISBN|978-0946372324}}.
*''How We Are: Photographing Britain from the 1840s to the Present''. Edited by Val Williams and [Susan Bright](/source/Susan_Bright). London: [Tate](/source/Tate), 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-85437-714-2}}.

==Exhibitions==
===Solo exhibitions===
*''Grapevine Hollow'', [The Photographers' Gallery](/source/The_Photographers'_Gallery), London, 1994<ref name="thephotographersgallery"/>
*''Grapevine'', [Arnolfini](/source/Arnolfini%2C_Bristol), Bristol, UK, 1994<ref>{{Cite web |title=Susan Lipper 'Grapevine' |url=https://archives.bristol.gov.uk/records/43371/Dept/Mk/2/34/6 |access-date=2024-09-19 |website=Bristol Archives online catalogue |language=en-gb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Michael Platt & Susan Lipper |url=https://arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/michael-platt-susan-lipper/ |access-date=2024-05-10 |website=Arnolfini |language=en-GB}}</ref>
*''Grapevine: Photographs by Susan Lipper'', [Cornerhouse](/source/Cornerhouse), Manchester, UK, 1995<ref>{{Cite web |date=1995-01-20 |title=Grapevine: Photographs by Susan Lipper |url=https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/19-january-1995/grapevine-photographs-by-susan-lipper/ |access-date=2024-10-13 |website=[Design Week](/source/Design_Week) |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Group exhibitions===
*''Who's Looking at the Family'', [Barbican Centre](/source/Barbican_Centre), London, May–September 1994<ref>{{Cite web |date=1994-05-28 |title=Exhibitions/ Mann's family and other animals: All human life isn't |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/exhibitions-mann-s-family-and-other-animals-all-human-life-isn-t-there-in-the-barbican-gallery-s-dark-new-show-of-family-photography-1439352.html |access-date=2024-05-05 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>

==Awards==
*2015: [Guggenheim Fellowship](/source/Guggenheim_Fellowship) from the [John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation](/source/John_Simon_Guggenheim_Memorial_Foundation)<ref name="guggenheim-fellowship" />

==Collections==
Lipper's work is held in the following permanent collections:
*[Metropolitan Museum of Art](/source/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art), New York City: 2 prints (as of 11 April 2023)<ref name="met" />
*[Minneapolis Institute of Art](/source/Minneapolis_Institute_of_Art), Minneapolis, Minnesota: 1 print (as of 30 August 2021)<ref name="artsmia"/>
*[Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles](/source/Museum_of_Contemporary_Art%2C_Los_Angeles): 5 prints (as of 11 April 2023)<ref name="moca"/>
*[Museum of Fine Arts, Houston](/source/Museum_of_Fine_Arts%2C_Houston): 2 prints (as of 7 October 2024)<ref name="mfah"/>
*[National Portrait Gallery, London](/source/National_Portrait_Gallery%2C_London): 4 prints<ref name="npg" />
*[New York Public Library](/source/New_York_Public_Library), New York City<ref name="nypl" />
*[Victoria and Albert Museum](/source/Victoria_and_Albert_Museum), London: 7 prints (as of 30 August 2021)<ref name="vam"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Official website|www.susanlipper.com}}
*[https://vimeo.com/70585392 "ICP Lecture Series 2010: Susan Lipper"] (video) – Lipper describes her career

{{Authority control (arts)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lipper, Susan}}
Category:Photographers from New York City
Category:20th-century American photographers
Category:21st-century American photographers
Category:20th-century American women photographers
Category:21st-century American women photographers
Category:Yale School of Art alumni
Category:Living people
Category:1953 births

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Susan Lipper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Lipper) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Lipper?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.